Blackwater 53393

Polygamy

Cobblestone

Polynomial

Sorry for your loss…

DON’T ASK! DON’T TELL!! I don’t want to tell you and you REALLY don’t want to know!!

Even today!!

Girl’s got chops. The band is in the pocket!

Giardeniera

Dow Jones??

We just had Pizza Priday!! Grandson is in for the next ten days. Maybe both grandsons for supper on night next week!! Got a daytime gig tomorrow at a reception for a charity suicide prevention walk. May get the boy to go with us. He hasn’t heard the band in several years!!

Like lots of stuff, pretty, but not very practical. Great exercise in free form design!!

With extra olives

Screeching Halt

Congratulations!!

Harlem Shuffle

Four Way Stop

If you lived in the area before whatever new inhabitants decided to form their HOA, you are not obligated to abide by their rules. Those neighbors tried to force my folks and me to bow to their demands. Didn’t go so well for them. After the legal gymnastics, they were out their legal fees and were ordered to pay ours as well! When we sold the property, we sold it without any restrictions and the HOA tried their BS again. Same outcome as before. Last time I was down that way, I heard that the HOA had been desolved!

Got my first set of ice skates at the Western Auto Store on Rt. 22 outside Kennilworth, NJ. in 1960. The guy that ran the store insisted that we try them on, despite the fact that the boxes were sealed. It’s a good thing, because none of the figure skates would fit. The salesman looked at my parents who wanted me to learn how to skate badly. He hesitated for only a second and smiled. He jumped up and returned shortly with a cool looking pair of two tone, all leather hockey skates!! They fit perfectly! My mom had really wanted me to start out on figure skates, but I was thrilled! Folks just took pride in doing right by customers back then!

Hey! Sammy! I’ve built several of those, but I’m pretty sure yous isn’t one of them. Mace Bishop was the first. He walked into my tent at the first US Open while I was shaping a hat for another customer, picked up my hat and plopped it on his head while declaring loudly that he liked his new hat!! It fit him perfectly, but I didn’t have another hat body like it in stock. He said that that was fine, to make him one EXACTLY like it, and paid cash in advance for it!! I think he sold half a dozen more like it for me over the years!!

Lindy Hop

Turkey Buzzards

I once lived with my parents in a neighborhood that decided it needed an HOA. I mostly ignored their crap because I hadn’t agreed to any of it. I had lived there for longer than any of ‘em. The house was there before any of them moved in and built. We picked up an old Auburn automobile to be restored. It certainly didn’t look like much, but even back then, it was worth as much as most of those houses. Some of the officers of the HOA showed up at our door, demanding that we remove the car from the driveway. My dad and I answered the door and he lit into them like they were stealing cars. Dad was a cop and a former Air Force Warrant Officer. They found out real quick what their rules and regulations were good for. And we also had one of the nicest looking places in the neighborhood. Years later, some of those snooty folks wanted us to help them find antique cars and the like. Most of ‘em got “what for” again!!

In all of the times that I displayed my wares, I never once stopped anyone from touching, feeling, or even trying on one of my hats. If I can’t “test drive” the merchandise, you’ll never sell it to me! I wouldn’t expect anyone to experience anything less! UB! I hope you’re joking about not being able to try on a really high quality chapaeu!!

Home Owners Associations should be prevented from this sort of thing. They MIGHT have some purpose, but mostly, they are an overbearing annoyance that should be strictly and severely limited in scope.

The difference in content is certainly evident in the texture, weight, and durability. A pure beaver felt hat is practically waterproof. It takes a serious soaking for water to completely penetrate one of these. Most hatters use pressurized steam to shape felt hats and it takes a lot more of it to shape a100X hat. The top guality hat is physically lighter in weight, the felt much tighter and the body stiffer while the feel is smoother. It will remain that way, given even marginal care, for the lifetime of its owner and often for that of a second generation as well. It can be cleaned, blocked, and reshaped repeatedly and maintain its integrity indefinitely. Most will likely require only replacement of the liner and sweatband, and that several times, over the life of the hat, only requiring proper cleaning otherwise.